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WVU’s New OC Harrell Eager to Get Started
January 20, 2022 05:00 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Graham Harrell spent his first week at West Virginia University marveling at the snow sitting on the ground outside his office at the Milan Puskar Center.
Harrell is familiar with the white stuff from his time playing for the Green Bay Packers, but his 6-year-old son Hawk has never seen snow before. Harrell made sure to show Hawk in a FaceTime message what he's about to encounter when the family makes the move from Los Angeles to Morgantown.
"He's excited," Harrell told our Dan Zangrilli during an exclusive Mountaineer Insider Podcast interview with Harrell that was posted earlier today. "He's never seen snow before."
West Virginia football fans are certainly excited to see what Harrell can bring to the table as the Mountaineers' new offensive coordinator.
Harrell's qualifications certainly warrant the excitement and enthusiasm. He was a record-setting quarterback playing in Mike Leach's Air Raid offense at Texas Tech. Fourteen years after last throwing a pass, Harrell still ranks fourth in NCAA history with 15,793 career yards passing.
His professional career began in Canada with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, another snowy place, and continued in Green Bay in the NFL as Aaron Rodgers' backup. It ended in 2013 at yet another place that frequently gets snow – New York, which means he's not about to get snowed under.
His collegiate coaching career has included stops at Washington State, working for Leach, at North Texas, where he coordinated Seth Littrell's Mean Green offenses for three seasons. Then, it was off to Southern California for three years at USC where he oversaw Trojan offenses that ranked near the top of the NCAA in total yardage.
He helped develop young quarterback Mason Fine into one of the country's most proficient passers at North Texas, and at USC, his offenses continued to move the football no matter who was behind center, or how old he was.
In 2021, quarterback Kedon Slovis earned true freshman All-America honors and was the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year after completing a school-record 71.9% of his pass attempts. When Slovis wasn't in the game, touted freshman Jaxson Dart was, and he passed for 1,353 yards and nine touchdowns in only six games.
Slovis has since found a new home at Pitt, West Virginia's 2022 season-opening opponent, while Dart is currently in the transfer portal looking for a place to go.
"Kedon is a special kid and he was almost like a son to me, so that will be interesting going against him," Harrell said. "He came in and wanted to learn and that's half the battle, and I think with young quarterbacks it's about giving them a plan."
Harrell's ability to nurture and develop young quarterbacks is something West Virginia fans are eager to see with the Mountaineers' roster of young quarterbacks. Athletic Garrett Greene got some playing time in a backup role, while freshman Will "Goose" Crowder spent 2022 quarterbacking the developmental practices.
And, West Virginia signed four-star prospect and Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year Nicco Marchiol last month, and he's already on campus perusing the playbook and familiarizing himself with his teammates.
Harrell said he became familiar with Marchiol on the recruiting trail while he was at USC.
"(Nicco) is a kid I know a lot of people are excited about and we're excited about and he's a super-talented kid," he said. "I think he has a lot of intangibles that you need as a quarterback. He has great energy and a lot of great leadership qualities, and that's important."
Harrell said he is also in the process of familiarizing himself with Greene and Crowder.
"Of the other two that have been here, Garrett is an athletic kid that can run around and make some plays and does a really good job with that. The athletic side of things is an extra dimension defenses have to prepare for," he explained.
"I got to watch a little bit of developmental tape of Goose, and I liked what I saw," Harrell added. "He's a really good looking kid and in spending the short amount of time I have with him, the thing that excites me about Goose is he has a presence that you are looking for in a quarterback."
Speaking of presence, Harrell spent three years in the presence of Rodgers and marveled at the way he worked at his craft and prepared each day.
"He's probably one of the most gifted people I've ever been around, and he can do some things others can't because he's blessed with some abilities other people weren't," he said. "But the thing I learned from Aaron was how detailed he was with the coaching staff they had there. All of those guys put a lot of emphasis on small things, and I think the higher up you go, that becomes really, really important."
According to Harrell, when Rodgers had free time he was always grabbing wide receivers to work on their timing. He was always a stickler for perfecting his footwork.
"Just a tad off makes a huge difference," Harrell explained. "That's true in the NFL and that's true in college football now. The windows are tighter and you've got to be really on and the small things add up."
Harrell recalls when he was in college that Leach used to tell his quarterbacks to throw the ball when the receivers are open. Harrell said he prefers to include the finer details of footwork and timing in the equation with his quarterbacks as well.
That is something he will be spending a lot of time this spring working on with his young signal callers.
"I tell quarterbacks all the time, it's hard enough to get the protection right, get all of the receivers to run the right routes and get open and then it can't just be on the quarterback if the play doesn't work," he said. "When everything works the way it's supposed to work, the quarterback has to be on. I stood back there and I've seen what they've see so I understand what goes into it, and we're going to throw the football at a really high level and a lot of that is just having a plan and being detailed in what we do."
While Harrell comes from the Leach tree, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a Leach clone.
"I played for coach Leach, I coached for coach Leach and I'm still really close with him and I think anyone who comes from him kind of falls under the Air Raid tree. But I think those that come from him, whether it's Lincoln Riley, myself, Kliff (Kingsbury), Dana (Holgorsen), Sonny Cumbie or Sonny Dykes, you turn on the tape and none of us are going to look exactly the same.
"The Air Raid is more of a philosophy, and I think everyone that's come from coach Leach has had a lot of success offensively just of where they've been," he added. "It's not necessarily that everyone's scheme is the same, but I think the philosophy is the same of you can't be great at everything."
Harrell explains.
"There are hundreds of good plays out there, but you don't have to be good at hundreds of plays. I think you can get good at a handful of plays and that has to fit your personnel and even myself from year to year, a lot of times we looked different because that's what our roster dictated," he said. "This past year at SC, we threw the ball really efficiently, but we ran it efficiently as well and a lot of times we were in 12-personnel just because we lacked receiver depth."
His first year at USC the Trojans used primarily 10-personnel because they were loaded with talent at wide receiver. USC made a lot of explosive plays that season, something that has been lacking for the last couple of years in West Virginia's offense.
Harrell has a unique take on explosive plays.
"I know everyone talks about the turnover battle being the No. 1 predictor of wins and losses, but I think the explosive play battle is almost as predictive as the turnover battle," he said.
Harrell admitted he's eager to get out on the field and work with West Virginia's offensive players this spring.
"What I can bring to the table is the confidence and an expectation to score points," he said. "If you look at our track record, we've had a lot of success and a lot of it is just a mentality.
"We're going to do things right, we're going to hold these kids to a high standard and expect a lot out of them, and we're going to hold them accountable, but at the same time we're going to have a lot of fun doing it.
"The higher up in football you go it becomes more of a business and you play the game of football because it's fun. That's what I'm excited to do – get some energy in them, some confidence in them and add a little swagger and remind them that we're going to do everything right," he concluded.
You can listen to the entire 30-minute interview with Harrell on the Mountaineer Insider Podcast.
Harrell is familiar with the white stuff from his time playing for the Green Bay Packers, but his 6-year-old son Hawk has never seen snow before. Harrell made sure to show Hawk in a FaceTime message what he's about to encounter when the family makes the move from Los Angeles to Morgantown.
"He's excited," Harrell told our Dan Zangrilli during an exclusive Mountaineer Insider Podcast interview with Harrell that was posted earlier today. "He's never seen snow before."
West Virginia football fans are certainly excited to see what Harrell can bring to the table as the Mountaineers' new offensive coordinator.
Harrell's qualifications certainly warrant the excitement and enthusiasm. He was a record-setting quarterback playing in Mike Leach's Air Raid offense at Texas Tech. Fourteen years after last throwing a pass, Harrell still ranks fourth in NCAA history with 15,793 career yards passing.
His professional career began in Canada with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, another snowy place, and continued in Green Bay in the NFL as Aaron Rodgers' backup. It ended in 2013 at yet another place that frequently gets snow – New York, which means he's not about to get snowed under.
His collegiate coaching career has included stops at Washington State, working for Leach, at North Texas, where he coordinated Seth Littrell's Mean Green offenses for three seasons. Then, it was off to Southern California for three years at USC where he oversaw Trojan offenses that ranked near the top of the NCAA in total yardage.
He helped develop young quarterback Mason Fine into one of the country's most proficient passers at North Texas, and at USC, his offenses continued to move the football no matter who was behind center, or how old he was.
In 2021, quarterback Kedon Slovis earned true freshman All-America honors and was the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year after completing a school-record 71.9% of his pass attempts. When Slovis wasn't in the game, touted freshman Jaxson Dart was, and he passed for 1,353 yards and nine touchdowns in only six games.
Slovis has since found a new home at Pitt, West Virginia's 2022 season-opening opponent, while Dart is currently in the transfer portal looking for a place to go.
"Kedon is a special kid and he was almost like a son to me, so that will be interesting going against him," Harrell said. "He came in and wanted to learn and that's half the battle, and I think with young quarterbacks it's about giving them a plan."
Harrell's ability to nurture and develop young quarterbacks is something West Virginia fans are eager to see with the Mountaineers' roster of young quarterbacks. Athletic Garrett Greene got some playing time in a backup role, while freshman Will "Goose" Crowder spent 2022 quarterbacking the developmental practices.
And, West Virginia signed four-star prospect and Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year Nicco Marchiol last month, and he's already on campus perusing the playbook and familiarizing himself with his teammates.
Harrell said he became familiar with Marchiol on the recruiting trail while he was at USC.
"(Nicco) is a kid I know a lot of people are excited about and we're excited about and he's a super-talented kid," he said. "I think he has a lot of intangibles that you need as a quarterback. He has great energy and a lot of great leadership qualities, and that's important."
Harrell said he is also in the process of familiarizing himself with Greene and Crowder.
"Of the other two that have been here, Garrett is an athletic kid that can run around and make some plays and does a really good job with that. The athletic side of things is an extra dimension defenses have to prepare for," he explained.
"I got to watch a little bit of developmental tape of Goose, and I liked what I saw," Harrell added. "He's a really good looking kid and in spending the short amount of time I have with him, the thing that excites me about Goose is he has a presence that you are looking for in a quarterback."
Speaking of presence, Harrell spent three years in the presence of Rodgers and marveled at the way he worked at his craft and prepared each day.
"He's probably one of the most gifted people I've ever been around, and he can do some things others can't because he's blessed with some abilities other people weren't," he said. "But the thing I learned from Aaron was how detailed he was with the coaching staff they had there. All of those guys put a lot of emphasis on small things, and I think the higher up you go, that becomes really, really important."
According to Harrell, when Rodgers had free time he was always grabbing wide receivers to work on their timing. He was always a stickler for perfecting his footwork.
"Just a tad off makes a huge difference," Harrell explained. "That's true in the NFL and that's true in college football now. The windows are tighter and you've got to be really on and the small things add up."
Harrell recalls when he was in college that Leach used to tell his quarterbacks to throw the ball when the receivers are open. Harrell said he prefers to include the finer details of footwork and timing in the equation with his quarterbacks as well.
That is something he will be spending a lot of time this spring working on with his young signal callers.
"I tell quarterbacks all the time, it's hard enough to get the protection right, get all of the receivers to run the right routes and get open and then it can't just be on the quarterback if the play doesn't work," he said. "When everything works the way it's supposed to work, the quarterback has to be on. I stood back there and I've seen what they've see so I understand what goes into it, and we're going to throw the football at a really high level and a lot of that is just having a plan and being detailed in what we do."
While Harrell comes from the Leach tree, that doesn't necessarily mean he's a Leach clone.
"I played for coach Leach, I coached for coach Leach and I'm still really close with him and I think anyone who comes from him kind of falls under the Air Raid tree. But I think those that come from him, whether it's Lincoln Riley, myself, Kliff (Kingsbury), Dana (Holgorsen), Sonny Cumbie or Sonny Dykes, you turn on the tape and none of us are going to look exactly the same.
"The Air Raid is more of a philosophy, and I think everyone that's come from coach Leach has had a lot of success offensively just of where they've been," he added. "It's not necessarily that everyone's scheme is the same, but I think the philosophy is the same of you can't be great at everything."
Harrell explains.
"There are hundreds of good plays out there, but you don't have to be good at hundreds of plays. I think you can get good at a handful of plays and that has to fit your personnel and even myself from year to year, a lot of times we looked different because that's what our roster dictated," he said. "This past year at SC, we threw the ball really efficiently, but we ran it efficiently as well and a lot of times we were in 12-personnel just because we lacked receiver depth."
His first year at USC the Trojans used primarily 10-personnel because they were loaded with talent at wide receiver. USC made a lot of explosive plays that season, something that has been lacking for the last couple of years in West Virginia's offense.
Harrell has a unique take on explosive plays.
"I know everyone talks about the turnover battle being the No. 1 predictor of wins and losses, but I think the explosive play battle is almost as predictive as the turnover battle," he said.
Harrell admitted he's eager to get out on the field and work with West Virginia's offensive players this spring.
"What I can bring to the table is the confidence and an expectation to score points," he said. "If you look at our track record, we've had a lot of success and a lot of it is just a mentality.
"We're going to do things right, we're going to hold these kids to a high standard and expect a lot out of them, and we're going to hold them accountable, but at the same time we're going to have a lot of fun doing it.
"The higher up in football you go it becomes more of a business and you play the game of football because it's fun. That's what I'm excited to do – get some energy in them, some confidence in them and add a little swagger and remind them that we're going to do everything right," he concluded.
You can listen to the entire 30-minute interview with Harrell on the Mountaineer Insider Podcast.
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